


secret videotape, show me the forbidden cartoons

by zagspect



Category: Shoujo Kakumei Utena | Revolutionary Girl Utena
Genre: F/F, Movie Dates, Shrek - Freeform, and a bit of akio (unfortunately), canontypical wakaba crushing but its an utenanthy story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-20
Updated: 2021-01-20
Packaged: 2021-03-18 13:29:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28867809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zagspect/pseuds/zagspect
Summary: Through underestimation, oversight, complacency, negligence- call it whatever you wish, the blame knows where to go- there is a crack in Ohtori Academy's narrative armor. It proves just wide enough for a certain story to slip through.Little one, whom the world has rolled! Never look dumb, never have a finger and thumb in the shape on an L on your forehead, even when you grow up.
Relationships: Himemiya Anthy/Tenjou Utena
Comments: 4
Kudos: 15
Collections: Chocolate Box - Round 6





	secret videotape, show me the forbidden cartoons

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bygoshbygolly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bygoshbygolly/gifts).



> happy chocobox!!!!! either great minds think alike or i think we saw the same tumblr post about shrek and utena- its a great post and im so glad you suggested shrek by name. i hope you enjoy this ogre-themed story with just a hint of malice(tm)!

"Knock, knock!"

It's Wakaba, so of course Utena will hop up from where she was playing cards with Chu-Chu and Anthy and get the door. Wakaba asks Anthy and Utena (and not Chu-Chu) to excuse her, but she doesn't mean it, not with that big grin on her face.

"What's up?" Utena asks.

"Do you guys have a video player, by any chance?"

"We do! Anthy likes to watch horror movies."

"They're very good movies," says Anthy.

"Late at night," says Utena. Yes, exactly. The best time for horror movies.

"Good, good! I was worried you wouldn't even have a TV out there in this abandoned dorm, let alone any accessories like that. But it was worth a shot, I thought to myself! Even my dorm's TV doesn't have one, and we have waaayyy more people in there, you know?"

Anthy does know, yes.

"But, I figured I'd ask! Just in case! See, my mom sent me a care package, and it just got here, and she sent me all sorts of nice stuff, cookies and some sweaters- oooh, I bet she'd send you some too if you asked- anyway, she also sent a movie, and I don't have a VHS in my dorm."

Ohtori Academy is not a place that could be described as short on stories. In fact, you don't need to even watch any movies, or read any books. You just need to breathe, and live, and remember someone from your past, someone who was very special to you, who changed your life...

Have you got it? Do you remember their face? It isn't a story yet if you can remember their face.

The point being- unknown narratives coming in from outside are rare. Wakaba, and Anthy can think this loudly and viciously in her head, is not a person who's family is worth keeping tabs on, who's mail has been worth bothering to search through. Maybe that was an oversight. This could prove interesting.

"What movie is it?" Utena asks. Wakaba takes it out of her bag almost shyly. 

"It's called Shrek."

"Huh?"

The front of the box features a green cartoon man front and center. A donkey. A Princess. No Prince.

"I don't know what it means," Wakaba says. She sounds embarassed about it. "I think it's American."

Anthy plugs in the video player, but she lets Utena put the tape in. Wakaba turns the TV on, and...

Static.

The back of the box, Anthy notices, advertises _the greatest fairy tale never told_. It sure is. Wakaba fiddles around with the machine, but it's no use, and she ejects the video.

"Oh well," she says, "Worth a shot! I'm gonna go around to other dorms, wanna come with me?"

Utena declines politely. She has homework, things to do, you know how it is, sorry. In the spirit of the evening's almost-rebellion, Anthy lets herself hope that one of these things is the rest of their card game. It isn't, but after they're both in pajamas Utena asks if she'd like to play cards. 

No, that's quite alright. She has a horror movie she'd like to watch. (She has an Utena, tossing and turning in bed, she'd like to watch.)

"Hey," Utena says, as Anthy puts her movie in. "Doesn't your brother have a projector? Maybe Wakaba's video can work on there, you could ask him-"

"It doesn't work with that sort of thing," Anthy says a bit too quickly. "She wouldn't be able to play it."

📼 📼 📼

Wakaba finds them at lunchtime, a few days later.

"You and I," she says victoriously, "are going on a _date_!"

"A date...?" Utena echoes.

"Have a nice time!" Anthy says, and Utena winces. This is not the first time her engaged has had a date planned with someone else, or that Anthy has seen them off with a wave. It's fine, especially because she's sure that Wakaba never really means it, is always just playing at loving Utena.

Then again, Anthy shouldn't throw stones. Her rose garden, if not her home, is very clearly made of glass.

"Where are you two headed? For your date?", she asks, if only because it makes Utena get up and do some stretches. Chu-Chu takes her seat, and also what remains of her lunch.

"I got tickets, from the drama club! Only two, sorry." To her credit, Wakaba does look truly sorry, if only for a moment. But then she goes on, "I was telling one of the drama girls, what's her name, A-something, she's in one of my classes? Anyway, I was telling her about how I couldn't find anywhere that would play Shrek, and she asked if she could see the tape, so I gave it to her, cause why not, right? It's basically garbage. Except, they got that movie working! They're playing it like a movie theater over the weekend!"

Anthy is prepared to let go of it. It's probably not even very good, and she's often busy on weekends.

"Lets see, I forgot what day exactly.....oh, Sunday night!"

📼 📼 📼

"I'm _siiiick_ ", Wakaba cries over the phone on Sunday morning. She coughs to prove her point. "I can't believe it!"

"I'm sorry," Utena says. To her credit, she sounds it. "You were so looking forward to us hanging out tonight, too."

"YEAH," Wakaba yells, and goes back into coughing. "This SUUUCKS!! I'm miserable."

Wakaba is a girl in pain. Utena thinks herself a Prince.

"Do you need anything?" asks Utena, of course. "Soup?"

"I would _love_ it if you brought me soup."

"Shaved ice?", Anthy asks over Utena's shoulder.

"...Maybe", coughs Wakaba. And the best part about bringing Wakaba soup (and cough drops) (and shaved ice) (and a bunch of flowers, because Wakaba is a girl in pain, and Utena thinks herself a Prince), is Wakaba's movie ticket that sits on her desk.

"Such a shame you can't make it," says Anthy.

"Uhm." Utena purses her lips awkwardly, and pokes at the ticket, and if she says what Anthy thinks she is going to say, she just might have to love her for a moment.

"If you aren't using it, do you mind if I see the movie with Himemiya?"

She loves Utena, she really does, for just a moment.

Wakaba grumbles about it, popping a sucking candy in her mouth before she can start coughing again.

"Fine, fine," she says around the candy. She's not _really_ mad, just pretending. "Think of it as my thanks for the soup!"

"It does smell delicious," Anthy adds. "feel better!"

She means it, but only starting tomorrow morning.

📼 📼 📼

So Wakaba is left behind with wellwishes. Utena and Anthy, on the other hand, have a date to get to.

"I believe Shrek is based on a book," Anthy muses.

"Is it now...?" Utena seems distracted. Going on a playdate with a friend is one thing. Going on a date with your _engaged_ \- this is _real_. Walking down the stairs to the drama clubroom, the way the room is dark with just two chairs in the middle. Under a spotlight sits a large TV on a wheeled stand, like what shows up in a classroom when it's an easy class, just watching something educational or so they say and you can relax, surprise, there is no work for you to do. A VCR sits on a shelf underneath. Utena and Anthy sit on the chairs. There is, thoughtfully, a bowl of popcorn each on a little table in front of them.

"It didn't work on our projector," says one of the drama girls. She's right in their face, to make it less obvious that there's a girl filling a hasty third popcorn bowl for Chu-Chu.

"Ours isn't built for that."

"It doesn't work with that sort of thing."

"Like Himemiya's brother's projector," Utena says. The girl filling Chu-Chu's popcorn bowl frowns like she gave the wrong answer before pouring her a cup of soda.

"Now, now! What matters is we got it eventually!" says yet another girl, plugging the tv into the wall. 

"Yup! It's just a matter of finding the right channel."

"Channel 1.... Channel 2...... Auugh, it just gives me static!"

Anthy gets the feeling that this is part of their presentation.

"What about Channel Zero?" Utena asks.

"What's the point of a Channel Zero!"

The girl to complain this is wearing a false mustache, so, definitely.

"Us parents pay for this school to offer their children CONTENT, not zeroes!"

"Channel Zero is for people out there, not people like us!"

"What if I told you all about Channel Negative One."

The girls take a bow - Anthy is pretty sure there are three of them, but it's hard to tell, and the drama club is unofficial - and retreat past a curtain hung behind Utena and Anthy's chairs. 

" _Once upon a time_ ," the movie starts, " _There was a lovely princess. But she had an enchantment upon her of a fearful sort, which could only be broken by love's first kiss. She was locked away in a castle, guarded by a terrible fire-breathing dragon. Many brave knights had attempted to free her from the dreadful prison, but none prevailed._ "

A knight, but not a Prince. Everyone knows the difference.

" _She waited in the dragon's keep, in the highest room of the tallest tower, for her true love and true love's first kiss._ "

A Prince. But then, the narrator laughs.

" _Like that's ever gonna happen._ "

And from here on the movie switches track entirely. It is a movie of fantasy but it looks to move away from the path- the Lord Faarquad is bad, is the villain of the story. The ogre is the Hero, the Princess is the ogre, an ogre's form is where true love lies. It is good to be ugly, to be undesirable, to have your ugliness desired, says the movie _Shrek_.

(" _I like that boulder. That is a nice boulder_ ," says the talking donkey in the movie _Shrek_ ).

How could this happen? How could such a thing make it in, sent unnoticed, comfortably jammed between two sweaters and a bag of homemade cookies. The shadow girls will forgive her, Anthy is sure, for tearing off the part of the box with the copyright date on it. Ohtori Academy is still a few years away from two thousand and one.

The subtitles are even _accurate_.

"It's kinda gross." Utena leans over, whispers to her. Anthy hmm-s about it. If childish jokes are all she takes away from it, fine. Anthy takes another handful of popcorn and puts her focus back on the screen, but Utena stays resting on her shoulder. It's the sort of thing you can enjoy best when you watch a movie like this. 

Did you know, did you know? Have you heard the news? Ogres have layers, like an onion.

"Onions..." Utena says, like she's trying to make sense of it. It's not the strangest metaphor she's been exposed to, but it's the strangest source.

"Well," says Anthy, deciding to lean on Utena in return, "If you cut into someone with a knife, wouldn't that make you cry too?"

"Ewwww! Obviously? That's gross, Himemiya, don't say things like that." 

"I'm sorry, Miss Utena. I'll stop."

It's not that obvious, especially for someone who frequently swordfights. Lots of people wouldn't shed a tear. Herself among them, Anthy thinks. If it came down to it.

Utena has sat up straight to better wrinkle her nose at Anthy, but snuggles back in even deeper after a moment. Not Anthy, Anthy has learned her lesson.

" _You know, not everybody likes onions._ " says the donkey. " _Cakes! Everybody loves cakes! Cakes have layers._ "

" _I don't care what everyone likes. Ogres are not like cakes._ "

The ogre marries the Princess. He stays an ogre. She becomes one. It's 'true love's form'. They are fairytale characters in a fairytale land, but fairytales can't touch them.

Utena's weight on her shoulder feels nice. The movie is almost over.

 _ I thought love was only true in fairy tales,  _ someone sings.  _ Meant for someone else but not for me._

"This is a cute song," Utena mumbles. She reaches for Anthy's hand.

Anthy sees Utena's face. She could, at this moment, be persuaded to be a believer.

" _I believe, I believe, I believe,_ " Utena sings along. 

Anthy takes her hand. Onscreen, the gingerbread man kicks the evil lord's wedding cake statue.

" _I believe_ ," Anthy sings along, just once. She's trying out the idea. She's not sure if she means it. Utena looks up, surprised, and then breaks into a warm smile.

 _And they lived ugly ever after_ , says the storybook in the movie.

📽 📽 📽

"I tried to call your dorm last night. Where were you?"

"I'm sorry, brother. We were watching a movie. We must not have heard the phone."

He is immediately no longer angry. With the right movie, he would have essentially been there.

"Oh, that sounds like fun. Which one?"

She should tell him. They should snuff this out together, before someone decides to make more of these movies.

"Sleeping Beauty."

"Ah! One of my favorites," Akio says, and so the matter is settled and there is no more need for him to comment on it.

📀 📀 📀

"Look, Utena! They made more Shreks!"

"Theres a sequel from..... 2004," Utena reads off her laptop. The number means something to them now. They can imagine how long ago that was. "Should we watch it?"

Anthy hmm-s and reaches across Utena's lap to type in _shrek two trailer_. 

They don't watch that much TV, anymore. Don't read as much fiction, either. Leaves a poor taste in their mouths, at best. Anthy clicks 'play'.

A "Prince Charming" seems to be one of this edition's antagonists. He wants to marry Princess Fiona in place of Shrek. They stare at the screen till it goes dark, their uncertain faces reflected.

"It looks funny!" Utena says, a bit too loudly. Chu-Chu startles at her breaking the silence. "The movie rental place should still be open if we leave soon. We can buy popcorn while we're out."

A squeaky cheer at the thought of popcorn. Utena is looking at her a bit nervously, truly ready to drop the subject if Anthy would like. Anthy thinks she has her answer, but thinks it over one more time, just in case. She wants to mean it.

"I did have a soft spot for horror movies," she decides.

She reaches for Utena's hand. They have a movie date tonight.

**Author's Note:**

> (staring at the lyrics of all star) no wait theres, like, something here. "but the meteor men beg to differ/judging by the hole in the satellite picture" is GREAT utena lyrics and could easily be a fic title for something else. ditto for "fed to the rules and i hit the ground running" like whoa. please look up the lyrics or ill just go on all day. 
> 
> anywayyyy thank you for reading and i hope you enjoyed!!! have a lovely day!!!


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